Looking Out the Window(s): How US Film Exhibitors Survived the Early Years of the COVID-19 Pandemic. An Interview with Jackie Brenneman and Bryan Braunlich of the National Association of Theater Owners and The Cinema Foundation

Abstract

Interview with Jackie Brenneman and Bryan Braunlich of the National Association of Theater Owners (NATO) and The Cinema Foundation, in which they discuss their organizations’ response to the COVID-19 pandemic in defense of US cinema owners. Brenneman recounts the first three years of the pandemic, including NATO’s initial understandings and activities during the early weeks of the pandemic’s spread to the US. She details NATO’s role in government support programs, distribution challenges, and evolving industry narratives surrounding exhibition, as well as her own experiences working to assist in exhibition’s recovery. Brenneman also reflects on the broader impact of the pandemic on the industry after three years of struggle and adaptation. With Braunlich, she explains the goals, initiatives, and trajectory of The Cinema Foundation, a cross-industry organization founded in the wake of the pandemic to advocate for stakeholders across the exhibition sector.